Immigrant Labour Market by Province 2009

October 2010
Immigrant Labour Market by Province 2009
Statistics Canada has been collecting labour market information on immigrants since January 2006 through the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The key labour market information collected includes population, employment, unemployment, participation rate, unemployment rate and employment rate. The LFS provides timely information on the labour market outcomes for immigrants. This fact sheet is based on 2009 LFS data for the core working-age population (ages 25 to 54 years), because this age group is more likely to have completed school and less likely to have entered retirement. Immigrants are categorized by year of residency in Canada: very recent immigrants (5 years or less; recent immigrants (5 to 10 years); and established immigrants (10 or more years). Outcomes for immigrants in the different categories are compared with Canadian-born workers. Immigrants are an important source of workers for B.C. and account for 27.3% of the provincial labour force. Within this group of workers, 16.2% were very recent immigrants, 19.0% were recent immigrants, and 64.7% were established immigrants. Immigrants had a vast array of labour market outcomes, influenced by many factors including the number of years residency in Canada, gender, age, education, industry and occupation. It is important to note that the analyses presented in this fact sheet are descriptive in nature. The results have no controls for the multiple factors that influence the statistics.

Wages for Immigrants

Alberta had the highest wages in general of any province among all worker groups. Very recent immigrants in Alberta had the highest average wage in Canada at $44,261. This was followed by the Atlantic provinces ($38,806), B.C. ($37,181), Saskatchewan ($36,128), Ontario ($35,417), Quebec ($32,895) and Manitoba ($28,480). For workers born in Canada, those in Alberta had the highest wages on average in Canada at $55,948. This was followed by Ontario ($50,353), B.C. ($49,198), Saskatchewan ($47,851), Manitoba ($43,880), Quebec ($43,643) and Atlantic provinces ($41,016).

Strategic Information Branch Labour Market and Immigration Division Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development www.WelcomeBC.ca/facts_and_trends

Chart 1: Wages of very recent immigrants and Canadianborn, 2009

Data Source: Labour Force Survey 2009, core working age (25-54 years) Canadian-born workers had significantly higher wages (26.4-54.1%) than very recent immigrants in all provinces except the Atlantic provinces where the wage difference was 5.7%. Manitoba had the largest difference with Canadian-born workers earning 54.1% more than very recent immigrants, followed by Ontario (42.2%), Quebec (32.7%), Saskatchewan (32.5%), BC (32.3%) and Alberta (26.4%). The wage gap in all provinces between immigrants and Canadian-born appears to close as immigrants become more established; however, even established immigrants (10+ years) earned 8.2-13.8% less than Canadian-born. The one exception was the Atlantic provinces where established immigrants earned 10.0% more than Canadian-born workers in 2009.

Chart 2: Labour Force Participation Rates of Very Recent Immigrants and Canadian-born, 2009

Labour Force Participation

The labour force participation rates1 in 2009 were lowest for very recent immigrants and increased as immigrants became more established. The participation rate for very recent immigrants was lowest in Quebec at 67.4%, followed by B.C. at 71.0%, Ontario and Atlantic provinces (76.0%), and the three prairie provinces (81-83%). The participation rate for Canadian-born workers was approximately the same for most provinces ranging from 88% to 90%. The exception was with the Atlantic provinces which had the lowest rate at 85.1%, and B.C. with the second lowest rate at 86.6%. For established immigrants (10+ years), their participation rate was slightly lower than for Canadian-born workers in all provinces, except for Manitoba where it was slightly higher. Data Source: Labour Force Survey 2009, core working age (25-54 years)

Some of the variation in labour force participation rates

1 Participation rate is the ratio of people employed and unemployed but looking for work compared to the overall size of the population in the same age cohort.

between immigrants and Canadian-born workers can be attributed to very different participation rates between immigrant women and Canadian-born women. While there is a difference in the participation rates of men and women in the labour force as a whole, it is wider for immigrants, especially very recent immigrants. For example in 2009, the participation rate of very recent immigrant women in B.C. was 62.2% and 81.1% for very recent immigrant men. By comparison, the participation rate for Canadian-born women was 82.5% and 90.7% for Canadian-born men. The differences in labour force participation between immigrant and Canadian-born women may be partially explained by various factors, including life-cycle stages, family structure, language skills and cultural differences.

Unemployment Rate
The Canadian economy has emerged from recession and the labour market is continuing to recover, with an average unemployment rate of 7.1% in 2009. For very recent immigrants (5 years or less), their unemployment rates in most provinces were much higher than this national average. The exceptions were Manitoba (6.5%) and Saskatchewan (7.9%). Quebec had the highest unemployment rate for very recent immigrants at 20.7%, followed by Ontario (14.8%), B.C. with 3rd highest (11.4%), the Atlantic provinces (10.5%) and Alberta (10.0%). Unemployment rates for very recent immigrants were also much higher than for Canadian-born in every province except for the Atlantic provinces where the rate was only slightly higher. The unemployment rate for Canadian-born was highest in the Atlantic provinces (9.1%), followed by Ontario, Quebec and B.C. (6.3% to 6.5%). The prairie provinces were the lowest (from 3.8% to 5.3%).
Chart 3: Unemployment Rates of Very Recent Immigrants and Canadian-born, 2009

more established (in Canada 5 years or more), their unemployment rates are the same as men in this category. It is interesting to note that for very recent immigrant women, their labour force participation rate was much lower and their unemployment rate was much higher compared to Canadian-born women.

Educational Attainment
In 2009, 26.8% of Canadians had a university degree (bachelors degree or higher). On average, immigrants are more likely to have a university degree than Canadian-born. In fact, very recent immigrants (5 years or less) were more than twice as likely as Canadian-born to have a university degree 53.5% compared to 22.9%.
Chart 4: Percent of Canadians having a University Degree by Year of Residency, 2009

Data Source: Labour Force Survey 2009, core working age (25-54 years) Among the four residency categories, very recent immigrants had the largest proportion of university degrees in Canada. Despite this, they had the most difficulty in finding a job in 2009 regardless of their education level. Very recent immigrants with a university degree had an unemployment rate over four times greater than the unemployment rate of their Canadian-born counterparts 13.8% compared to 3.2%. The unemployment rate of university educated immigrants appears to decrease as they become more established in Canada. Reviewing the data by province shows that very recent immigrants and recent immigrants held university degrees at rates that were comparable to the national averages. The exception was Manitoba with significantly lower rates at 35.9% and 38.4%, respectively and the Atlantic provinces with higher rates at 59.3% and 62.1%, respectively.

Data Source: Labour Force Survey 2009, core working age (25-54 years) The largest difference in unemployment rates between very recent immigrants and Canadian-born was in Quebec and Ontario and the least difference was in the Atlantic provinces. This gap in unemployment rates appears to decline as immigrants become more established but was still large for established immigrants (10+ years) in Ontario and Quebec. The unemployment rates for established immigrants in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are similar to Canadian-born and significantly lower in the Atlantic provinces (4.8%). On a national level, unemployment rate in 2009 for Canadian-born men (7.5%) was higher than for Canadianborn women (5.1%). Very recent immigrant women, however, have more difficulty finding work than men in this category. After immigrant women become

Table 1: Immigrants by Province having a University Degree by Year of Residency, 2009

Very recent immigrants (5 yrs or less) British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Ontario Quebec Atlantic Canada 53.2% 55.0% 52.9% 35.9% 55.8% 51.9% 59.3% 53.5%

Recent immigrants (5+ to 10 yrs) 49.3% 48.5% 52.3% 38.4% 53.3% 45.3% 62.1% 50.5%

Established immigrants (10+ yrs) 29.2% 27.9% 32.5% 25.1% 29.2% 34.4% 37.0% 29.7%

Canadian-born 23.3% 20.8% 18.6% 22.2% 25.9% 21.7% 18.9% 22.9%

Data Source: Labour Force Survey 2009, core working age (25-54 years)

The proportion with university education among established immigrants and Canadian-born was comparable for all provinces as well, except for the Atlantic provinces and Saskatchewan. In the Atlantic provinces, established immigrants had the highest proportion of university degrees (37.0%) and Canadian-born one of the lowest (18.9%). The proportion of established immigrants with a degree in Saskatchewan was higher than the national average but Canadian-born had the lowest rate of any province at 18.6%. Levels of university degrees held by B.C. residents were very similar to the national averages for all four groups.

Employment Rates
Regardless of educational attainment and years of residency, all immigrants in Canada had lower employment rates than those for Canadian-born. Very recent immigrants with a university degree had the largest gap between their employment rates compared to their Canadian-born counterparts (24.1 percentage points). Employment rates for immigrants appear to increase at all education levels, as they become more established. Saskatchewan and Manitoba had the highest employment rates for all categories (immigrants and Canadian-born) except established immigrants with a post-secondary certificate or diploma. Among the provinces, Alberta had the highest rate for this group.

In January 2006, five questions were added to the LFS to identify the immigrant population country of birth, whether a landed immigrant or not, month of landing, year of landing, country of highest education. These questions are comparable to those used in the Census questionnaire.

Chart 5: Canadian Employment Rates by Educational Attainment by Year of Residency, 2009

For More Information

For more Immigration and Temporary Resident reports and statistics, please visit: www.welcomebc.ca/facts_and_trends or www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/menu-research-stats.asp For more information on labour and income, please visit: www. .statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/theme-theme. action?pid=2621&lang=eng&more=0 or www. bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/lss/labour.asp or www.workbc.ca For more information on the Immigrant Labour Market by Province Fact Sheet, contact: Selma Low, Strategic Information Branch, Labour Market and Immigration Division, Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development Email: Selma.Low@gov.bc.ca

Data Source: Labour Force Survey 2009, core working age (25-54 years) For very recent immigrants and recent immigrants, Quebec and Ontario had the lowest employment rates for all levels of educational attainment. Established immigrants and Canadian-born with high school or a post-secondary certificate or diploma in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces had the lowest employment rates while those with university degrees in B.C. and Alberta had the lowest employment rates.

Table 2: Employment Rates by Province by Educational Attainment and Years of Residency, 2009

Very recent immigrants (5yrs or less)

Lowest Highest

Recent immigrants (5+ to 10 yrs)

Lowest Highest

Established immigrants (10+ yrs)

Lowest Highest

Canadian-born
Lowest Highest

High school Post-secondary University

QC QC QC

SK SK SK

QC ON ON

MB SK MB

QC Atlantic BC

MB AB MB

Atlantic Atlantic AB

MB SK SK

Data Source: Labour Force Survey 2009, core working age (25-54 years)